Gael's Blog

My husband and I spent a lovely relaxing break yesterday in Richmond. It was a beautiful sunny day with a good breeze so an ideal climate for enjoying being outside. In the UK, when we have days like this, everyone seizes the opportunity to go out and about, so the riverside was teeming with […]

This June blog is very late and you may have noticed that I missed May too! There have been many reasons why recently I have not been able to write when I had expected to be able to do so. The main one was that our daughter decided to get married and only […]

I’m a worrier. This confession will come as no surprise to my family and close friends. Others, who know me less intimately, would probably never use this label to describe me. By and large, they would have only seen my ‘reformed worrier’ in action. She might not always be smiling, but she wouldn’t be […]

A few days ago when I was at one of my book club meetings, a new member bravely challenged us on our choice of books. She said: “Although I have only been in the group for three months and have really enjoyed our discussions, I’d like to know if you always choose books with […]

Last week I heard a lovely Valentine story, which gave me the idea for this month’s Confidence Challenge. Just hearing it, I felt uplifted so I hope you will too. A few days ago, I rang an elderly friend of mine who has been very unwell for a number of weeks. She lives on […]

The day before yesterday I had planned to plough through a backlog of paperwork that had piled up on my desk. But the sun was shining and I felt like going out and about. I went for a walk and dropped into our local arts centre for a coffee. While I was there, I bumped […]

I have just returned from a lovely week in my home in southern Spain. This was one of my annual painting outings with a great friend. I set off barely able to use my voice and extremely anxious about all the pre-Christmas jobs I had failed to do in the previous week. (I […]

For me, this Christmas holiday will be special. It will be our first with our new little granddaughter. She won’t be big enough to know what is happening but she will pick up on the positive energy of people who love her and the happiness and excitement around her. She is lucky and so […]

Last week in my art class I mistakenly took a swig a deadly poison. I had put paint solvent (a colourless liquid) in a beaker and placed it to the right of me. Unfortunately I had also filled a similar beaker with drinking water. I had placed that one to my left so I […]

Yesterday, I saw a large group of women relaxing together in a park. Almost all were either chatting, or busy sewing or preparing food. But my attention focused in on one young woman who was sitting with her back turned slightly outwards reading a book. The image of this young woman stayed with me […]